FILM 1F90

Film form

The total system that the viewer perceives the film.

Genre

Categories of films based on themes, styles, or audience preferences.

Narrative

The sequence of events that make up the story of a film.

Mise-en-scene

The arrangement of visual elements in a film, including sets, costumes, lighting, and composition.

Cinematography

The art of capturing and manipulating images on film, including camera angles, shots, and lighting.

Editing

The process of selecting and combining shots to create a coherent sequence in a film.

MacGuffin

An object or element in a film that drives the plot but is ultimately of little importance to the overall narrative.

Diegetic sound

Sound that occurs within the world of the film.

Non-diegetic sound

Sound that occurs outside the world of the film.

Sound designer

The person responsible for creating and manipulating sound elements in a film.

Realism

A style of filmmaking that aims to depict real-life situations and characters.

Formalism

A style of filmmaking that emphasizes the visual and technical aspects of filmmaking over narrative or content.

Auteurism

A film theory that focuses on the director as the main creative force in a film.

Colligate effect

The effect created when shots are combined to create a larger meaning or idea.

Story

The overall content and structure of a film, including events, characters, and settings.

Plot

The arrangement of events within a story, including the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Ellipsis

The omission of unnecessary or unimportant parts of a film's narrative.

Cameo actor

An actor who makes a brief appearance in a film.

Leading actor

The main actor or actress in a film.

Non-professional actor

An actor who is not trained or experienced in acting.

Establishing shot

A shot that establishes the setting or location of a scene.

Long shot

A shot that captures a wide view of a scene or subject.

Medium shot

A shot that captures a subject from the waist up.

Close-up

A shot that captures a subject's face or a specific detail.

Extreme close-up

A shot that captures a subject's face or a specific detail in extreme detail.

Cinematic language

The visual and auditory techniques used in filmmaking to convey meaning and evoke emotions.

Movie

A motion picture that tells a story through a series of moving images.

Fade-in/fade-out

A transition effect that suggests the passage of time or a shift to a new scene.

Low-angle shot

A shot that is taken from a low position, looking up at a subject, often used to portray the subject as strong or threatening.

Cutting on action

A cut that allows for a smooth transition between shots by cutting while a character is in motion.

Hard cut

A noticeable and often jarring edit that is meant to be noticed by the audience.

Protagonist

The central character of a narrative who drives the story forward.

Explicit meaning

The open and easily understood narrative of a film.

Implicit meaning

The underlying meaning or subtext of a film that lies beneath the surface narrative.

Formal analysis

An analysis that examines the artistic elements of a film, such as cinematography, editing, and sound.

Form

How the content of a film is expressed through its artistic elements.

Content

The subject or topic of a film.

Cultural analysis

An analysis that explores the social, political, and ideological aspects of a film.

Mass medium

Technology that allows communication with a mass audience.

Cinematic patterns

Repetitive visual or narrative elements in a film that create a sense of familiarity or surprise for the audience.

Parallel editing

The technique of showing shots in succession to create the illusion of simultaneous events.

Film Form

The fundamental elements of movies, including the use of light, the illusion of movement, and the manipulation of space and time.

Leonard Shelby

A stereotypical Hollywood protagonist who is fiercely individualistic, goal-oriented, and faces challenges and antagonists.

Leonard's "system"

He used Polaroid photographs, notes, tattoos, mottos, maps, and police files to make sense of his life and maintain his direction and purpose.

Interest in Leonard

The audience is interested in solving the mystery of his wife's rape and murder, familiar with revenge as a common plot element, and put in a state of ignorance and confusion similar to Leonard's condition.

Audience "system"

Trying to make sense of patterns, piece scenes together, determine who to trust, and understand the relevance of certain elements in the narrative.

Three approaches to movie-making

Narrative, Documentary, and Experimental.

Narrative movie

A movie that focuses on fictional narratives, ranging from pure imagination to recognizable settings or time periods.

Documentary movie

A non-fiction or narrative-based movie that explores histories, memoirs, and biographies.

Experimental movie

A movie that defies conventions of fictional narrative and documentary filmmaking, often non-commercial, highly personal, and open to interpretation.

Animated movies

Important forms of filmmaking that can be fictional narratives, used to illustrate documentary material, or part of experimental films.

Sponsored and industrial films

Public service announcements, educational and instructional films, public relations films, and advertisements.

Genre

Types of film used to categorize movies based on story formulas, themes, character types, settings, presentation, stars, and iconography.

Major American genres

Gangster, Film Noir, Science Fiction, Horror, Western, and Musicals.

Characteristics of a Horror film

Establishes a normal world threatened by the arrival of the other, with the goal of vanquishing the monster to restore normalcy.

Characteristics of a Western film

Inspired by American history, set in the Wild West, and explores themes of opportunity, danger, and the clash between civilization and lawlessness.

Common plot elements of the Western

Revenge, shootouts, Indian raids, cattle drives, and the push of civilization to the frontier.

Time period of most Westerns

Between 1836-1900, especially 1865-1900.

Common characters in the Western

Marshal, sheriff, bad man, cowboy, Indian chief, rancher, etc.

Common themes of the Western

Civilization vs. wilderness, order vs. lawlessness, settling frontier, code of honor, revenge, etc.

Common techniques of the Western

Treatment of landscape, action sequences, and expert horsemanship.

Shots common in Western movies

Long shots and extreme long shots to showcase the scenery and location.

Narrative

The cinematic structure that arranges events in a cause-and-effect sequence occurring over time.

Casual minimalism

A film narrative that displays little to no causality between events.

Narrator

The person or entity that tells the story, either as a first-person or third-person narrator.

First-person narrator

A character who imparts information through voice-over narration.

Third-person narration

A narrator outside of the narrative who tells the story, either omniscient or limited to a participant's perspective.

Breaking the fourth wall

When a character addresses the audience directly.

Restricted narration

Limits the information provided to the audience to what is known by a single character, often with a non-chronological structure and unreliable narrator.

Round character

Possesses numerous traits that can change over the course of the story.

Flat character

Relatively uncomplicated, exhibits few distinct traits, and does not significantly change.

Anti-heroes

Characters like Lady Bird, Leonard, and Wyatt who possess complex traits and motivations.

Antagonist

The person, group, or forces that obstruct the protagonist's goals.

Backstory of Wyatt Earp

Ex-marshall of Dodge City known for cleaning up a notorious Wild West town.

Backstory of Jack Foley

Legendary bank robber who relies on wits rather than guns, with a long-standing partnership with Buddy.

Significance of repetition

Implies a pattern and suggests higher importance in the plot.

Familiar image

An image periodically repeated in a movie to stabilize the narrative and create continuity.

Three types of duration

Story duration, plot duration, and screen duration, each representing different aspects of time in a movie.

Design in Mise-en-scene

The process of determining the look of the setting, props, lighting,

Depth of Field

The range of distance in a shot where objects appear in focus.

Shooting Angle

The level of the height of the camera in relation to the subject being photographed.

Eye-level Shot

A shot taken from the observer's eye level.

Pan Shot

The horizontal movement of a camera mounted on a gyroscopic head of a stationary tripod.

Tilt Shot

The vertical movement of a camera mounted on a gyroscopic head of a stationary tripod.

Dolly Shot

A shot taken from a camera fixed to a wheeled support, generally known as a dolly.

Dolly-in Shot

When a camera is used to dolly in on a person or object.

Tracking Shot

A type of shot that moves horizontally along with the action using a dolly or other vehicle.

Hand-held Tracking Shot

A type of roaming shot that is somewhat shaky because it is hand-held.

Steadicam Shot

A tracking shot taken with a sophisticated piece of equipment that keeps the image smooth and steady, giving the impression of gliding.

Zoom-in Shot

A shot that is accomplished through the magnification of a zoom lens to zero in on a person or object.

Crane Shot

A shot taken from an elevating arm that is mounted on a vehicle and able to move on its own.

Summary Relationship

Screen duration is shorter than plot duration, conveying a long period of time in a short period of time.

Real-time

Screen duration that corresponds directly to plot duration, suggesting and depicting the period of time in an equivalent manner.

Stretch Relationship

Screen duration is longer than plot duration, conveying a short period of time in a long (or longer) period of time.

Technique, Craft, and Art of Editing

Technique refers to the cutting and joining of shots, craft is the ability to produce a meaningful whole, and art takes the combination of shots to the next level, evoking excitement, insight, shock, or epiphany.

Kuleshov Effect

The meaning of an actor's neutral face can change depending on the images it is edited with.

Editor's Responsibility

Spatial relationships between shots, temporal relationships between shots, and the overall rhythm of the film.

Spatial Relationship between Shots

Creating a sense of space in the viewer's perception.

Temporal Relationship between Shots

Manipulating the presentation of plot time on-screen, such as through flashbacks, flash-forwards, and ellipsis.

Continuity Editing

Ensuring that what happens on screen makes narrative sense, maintaining consistent screen direction, and preserving graphic, spatial, and temporal relations between shots.